How to Play Sheepshead
Sheepshead is a five-handed trick-taking card game, Wisconsin's card game (Milwaukee made it its official card game in 1983) and a Midwest tavern tradition. One player (the picker) takes on the rest, usually with a secret partner. The picking side needs 61 of the 120 points in the deck.
The deck
32 cards: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7 in each suit. Point values: Ace 11, Ten 10, King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2; nines, eights and sevens are worth nothing. The whole deck totals 120.
More: the deck and the deal by player count · card points and counting to 61
Trump
Fourteen cards are trump, and the order surprises newcomers. From highest to lowest:
Q♣ Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ J♣ J♠ J♥ J♦ A♦ 10♦ K♦ 9♦ 8♦ 7♦
Every queen, every jack, and all diamonds. The three remaining suits (clubs, spades, hearts) are "fail" and rank A, 10, K, 9, 8, 7. You must follow the suit led if you can; all trump counts as one suit.
More: the trump order, with examples · following suit
The deal and the pick
Everyone gets six cards; two go face down as the blind. Starting left of the dealer, each player may pick the blind (committing to take 61) or pass. The picker adds the blind to their hand and buries two cards face down; buried points count for the picking side. The player on the dealer’s left leads the first trick, whoever picked.
More: dealing · how picking works · the bury · when to pick
Partners
- Jack of diamonds: whoever holds the J♦ is secretly the picker's partner, revealed only when it's played. If the picker holds (or buries) it, they're alone.
- Call an ace: the picker names a fail ace they don't hold; its holder is the partner. The picker must keep a card of that suit, and the partner must play the called ace when the suit is led.
When there is no ace to call
Call an ace only. Neither of these exists in the jack-of-diamonds game, which never asks the picker to name anything. Twice in a few hundred hands the picker holds a hand that breaks the rule above, and most players go years without meeting either case. Call a ten is offered at every call-an-ace table here; card under is a house rule a table switches on.
- Call a ten: the picker holds all three fail aces, so there is no ace left to name. A ten stands in for one, and the picker's ace of that suit is held back: it must be played on the first lead of the called suit, and it cannot take that trick. Unless somebody trumps, the ten wins it. Without that, the picker would hold the one card that beats their own partner's. Calling a ten, with a worked hand.
- Card under: the picker holds the ace of every fail suit they have cards in. They may call an ace in a suit they are void in, and lay one card face down as the “under” card. That card is committed: it is what they must play when the called suit is led, and it stops belonging to the suit it came from, so being led that suit no longer drags it out. It counts as a card of the called suit, so the picker may also lead it, which pulls the called ace out on their own terms. It can never take a trick. Card under, with a worked hand.
More: jack of diamonds · call an ace · which ace to call · going alone
Rather than take our word for it, deal yourself one: a hand that forces call a ten · a hand that forces card under · a hand holding both black queens. Both open a practice table with the hand already dealt. Press Pick and the situation is in front of you.
Doubling: cracks, blitzes, and the sheepshead call
Two words do a lot of work here, and they are the ones the tables that play this game use. A non-passing player is one who never had the chance to pick: the blind reached the picker before it reached them. Anyone sitting earlier was offered it and turned it down, and a seat that passed has had its say. So there are non-passing opponents, who may crack, and a non-passing partner, who may join the picking side’s answer. Learning later that the picker is your partner does not hand back a turn you already used.
- Blitz (both black queens), Indian blitz (both red queens), or Johnny blitz (three jacks): the cards are shown and the stakes double. The picker shows theirs as they take the blind, on the same button, and once they have picked their blitzing is done. A non-passing partner may show theirs after the bury. One blitz each, so nobody doubles twice on the same cards.
- Sheepshead: the picker shows all four queens. Stakes quadruple, and the picking side must take every trick or the hand is lost regardless of points. This is not a blitz and is not affected by one.
- Crack: the non-passing opponents are asked in turn, and the first to crack doubles the stakes. The partner never cracks: a crack is the defense betting against the picking side, and the partner is the picking side. One crack per hand.
- Blitz crack: a non-passing opponent holding both black queens, both red queens or three jacks may show them and crack at ×4 instead.
- Recrack: the picking side may double right back, and that means the picker or a non-passing partner. The offer goes around the table from the seat that cracked, so whichever of them it reaches first is asked first. One recrack per hand, and the first of them to take it settles it for both.
- Blitz recrack: the picker or a non-passing partner answering a crack may show a complete queen pair or three jacks and recrack at ×4 instead of ×2. One blitz each per hand, so whoever already showed their cards shows nothing twice.
More: cracking and recracking · blitzes · the sheepshead call · when to crack
If everyone passes
- Doubler: the hand is thrown in and the next one plays at double stakes (the club's default).
- Leaster: everyone for themselves; fewest points wins (you must take at least one trick). The blind goes to whoever takes the last trick. If players tie for fewest, each of them collects from every player who did not win.
- Dealer stuck: the dealer must pick.
- Schwanzer: the hand is not played. Every hand is counted for trump and the biggest holder pays for having passed. Spelled out on the all-pass page.
More: doublers · leaster strategy · the schwanzer
Scoring
| Result | Stakes |
|---|---|
| Picking side takes 61–90 | base win |
| 91 or more (defenders under 30) | double: schneider |
| Every trick | triple: schwarz |
| Picker fails (60 or less) | paid out instead of collected |
| Picking side held under 31 | double against them: schneider |
With a partner, the picker carries two shares and the partner one. Alone, the picker carries it all. That holds even when the picking side takes no tricks at all: the partner shares the loss. The running tally lives in The Sheet on the right of every table.
More: scoring and settling up · schneider and schwarz · house rules and our defaults
Club terms
- Schmearing is throwing your aces and tens onto tricks your side is winning. It's the soul of the game, and the first piece of table slang anybody picks up.
- Lay 'em down: if every card left in your hand is unbeatable, claim the rest. Sheepshead Club verifies the claim and shows your cards, like a real table.
- Fair deals: every shuffle is committed (sha256 of its secret) before the hand and revealed after, so anyone can verify nothing was stacked.
- Turn clock: 30 seconds per decision; stall and the table plays a sensible card for you. Disconnect and your seat is held while you reconnect.
- Ranked vs practice: hands at all-human tables count on the ranked leaderboard. Hands with bots count on the separate practice board.
Want more?
Every rule above has its own page with examples in the handbook, and short answers to common questions are in the FAQ. Our strategy pages start at strategy. For more, the community classics are worth a read: the Ten Commandments of Sheepshead at sheepshead.org. Then come back and schmear something.